Robot Paradox: Automated Gizmos Are Ready for HomeAre We?

As the far-flung consumer robotics industry became more crowded at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, it became equally as confusing: Would household bots live on as kids entertainment, their babysitters or simple the family maid? With an identity in reach, the robot market fights to keep up with its own pace of innovation.

LAS VEGAS -- It's press day at the Consumer Electronics Show here, and as geek bloggers pack into product unveilings in overstuffed ballrooms downstairs, I'm prowling for robots. The booths are being knocked together throughout the cavernous exhibit halls of the Venetian hotel and casino--all part of the yearly construction frenzy that precedes North America's largest trade show. But as two forklift drivers pass the makeshift home of robot toy-maker Wowwee, the first one stops. He's eyeballing a child-size, faceless replica of a new robot called Femisapien. "Hey," he calls back to the other driver. "That's kind of sexy." It's noisy in here; he has to repeat himself. "Move," the second one says. "I can't see."

After an eye-full, he's not convinced: "I guess so. I mean, if you're into that sort of thing. I like flesh and blood myself."

"That's kind of sexy," the first guy reiterates, and with that, they drive on. Wowwee's staff is busy rehearsing for tomorrow's mayhem of demos, with some 16 new bots debuting at the show. It's too bad--because if Femisapien is "kind of sexy" to the least dorky guy at CES, that's a triumph for consumer robotics.

As new war- and space-related bots are announced regularly and with increasing fanfare, this week's gadget heaven should be the perfect place to showcase the family-friendly, mass-market side of this dynamic industry. But the robots are across town from all the action at CES, relegated to the relative ghetto of the "Innovations Plus" exhibit hall. Stumbling across something called the Robotics Tech Zone on the conference map, you might get your hopes up: What manner of machine panacea awaits you, with never-before-seen droids of every shape, color and purpose trilling away at one another? Will Honda's hobbit-in-a-spacesuit, Asimo, be there? Wasn't there a press release about R2D2 showing up somewhere?

Whether it's cleaning your floor or trying to entertain you, the danger of any consumer robot remains that it might ultimately let us down. "The Jetsons showed us what we wanted: We want Rosie," iRobot CEO Colin Angle said during a roundtable discussion on the state of robotics here, where his company overshadows the rest of a fledgling industry. "But for the last 45 years, people have been wondering when robots will be real. And people have been disappointed."

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Robot Toys: 'Minutes of Fun'

The Spykee Vox is a voice-activated robot that happens to have an iPod dock. And this dock happens to lie in a borderline scandalous location--low and prominent, like a high-tech codpiece. Vox is one of three new robot toys debuting this year from Erector. It turns left when you tell it to (you might have to repeat yourself a few times). At roughly 1 ft. tall, with laser cannons protruding from its wrists, an ominous black monolith for a head and a mode that sends it racing around, firing at imagined targets, this is a neat kind of animatronic toy. But then it starts talking, in a decidedly goofy voice. Its face lights up, suddenly grinning and cloying and dancing to its own music. So what is the Spykee Vox, exactly? A voice-controlled robot, a voice-controlled iPod speaker or a confused attempt to capitalize on both of those current tech obsessions? That probably depends on whom you ask, but here's what the device definitely is: $150.

Angle has a term for robot toys: "minutes of fun." The initial, often substantial rush provided by these gadgets is perfect for morning-show segments or YouTube videos. But watch how long it takes for your 10-year-old nephew, who doesn't really care about infrared-based collision detection or the difference between scripted behavior and true autonomy, to get bored with his new, $100 Roboreptile.

As I've found from testing dozens of them over the past several years, most robotic toys don't feel like the real thing. They feel like one-trick ponies, a geekier version of those single-purpose dolls that grow, or wet their diapers, and ultimately stay in the closet while low-tech Barbie maintains her stranglehold on little girls' inner lives. Some of the most famous and beloved robot toys of all time, Transformers, never lifted a single mechanical finger. They didn't even look as cool as their cartoon equivalents. If Optimus Prime had talked, danced and sported an iPod for a codpiece, would he still be such an icon?

Oftentimes, so-called autonomous toys can be more of a marketing stunt than a legitimate product. Sony's Aibo was a feat of technical brilliance, and a source of corporate pride, but never a moneymaking venture. The mysterious Rolly generated surprising buzz for Sony this year at CES, with senior vice president Steve Haber declaring that the electronics giant was "now creating a new category" with a music device that could "dance to its own beat." But the pear-size Rolly turned out to be merely puzzling--a writhing, abstract sort of robotic media player. While Robotis Inc. had a display of robots assembled using its $899 Bioloid educational kit--including the unforgettable Attacking Duck, which lunges at anything that sets off its infrared sensors--the Korean company seemed more interested in pushing its proprietary Dynamixel servo (for use in everything from industrial factory bots to animatronics) than in landing a stateside toy distributor.

The least disappointing robot toys at CES were the ones with an intentionally limited purpose. Wowwee's Flytech Bladestar, for example, is a remote control flier. But unlike every RC chopper you've flown, it has a brief touch of autonomy before crashing, with three infrared sensors that help keep it from colliding with its environment. It still crashes, but not as often as you'd expect. This is an unassuming robot and, at $50, a relatively cheap one. Thankfully, it doesn't say a word.

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While Wowwee's Flytech Bladestar was a runaway hit at CES Unveiled (and a PM Editor's Choice Award winner), other bots like (from left to right) Spykee's Vox, Robotis's Attacking Duck and Sony's Rolly have walked the fine line between toy and marketing tool.

Robot Parents: 'Doing a Service'

Like many new consumer robots, one toddler-size model here really likes to talk about itself: "I am multi-task humanoid robot E3." That's short for emotional, educational and entertainment. A rep from Roboware Ltd., which manufactures E3, is smiling warmly at the robot, and speaking into a microphone. "What you do in your free time?"

Her next line cements the creepy, Dating Game of Tomorrow vibe. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Introduce me to the female robot," E3 says, for some reason, and then continues describing himself, with a final reminder, that it has a heart: "Don't forget to fill me with love, not gasoline."

That fleeting moment of machine lust notwithstanding, E3 is built to work with kids. It has a screen on its chest that can be used to play educational video games, but the Roboware reps also claim it can watch your baby--and take action when there's a problem. What sort of action? For infant crying, it can be set to play a song. Or it can play a recording of Mom's voice, soothing a child back to sleep. Potentially hitting U.S. shelves for $1000 in September, is E3 a windfall for a handful of future therapists, or a combination baby monitor, game system, remote control toy and all-around invaluable parenting tool?

Either way, E3 is not alone. The concept of parental telepresence has also caught the attention of Wowwee, which is releasing a browser-controlled camera-bot named Rovio. The three-wheeled, $300 rover is as big as a cat, and uses a combination of infrared sensors, micro-GPS waypoints, and a central docking station to patrol your home. From almost any Web browser, anywhere in the world, you can start up Rovio and monitor its progress with streaming audio and video as it hits the waypoints you've plugged in (say, fridge to doorway to bed). You can also take manual control, steering Rovio around newfound obstacles, and angling the camera up and down. When it comes out later this year, Rovio should be able to output streaming audio as well, allowing for the following scenario.

You're on a work-related trip, and you miss your kids, so you decide to drive Rovio into their room and read a bedtime story. Provided the dog doesn't interfere, or a shoe isn't blocking your path, you can simply select a pre-set path into the room, clear your throat and speak into your computer's microphone. Never mind Rovio's sinister angles, baleful camera-head and cold blue running lights. This is better than crowding around a Web cam, right?

"We already have plenty of consumer robots in our homes," Wowwee CTO Davin Sufer told me this week. "Your dishwasher cleans automatically--it's a robot. But for people to think of something as a robot, it has to look like one. Like Robosapien, or Rovio. That makes it exciting." After all, a robot is more conceptually exciting than a Web cam. And the robot you consistently use is better than the Web cam you don't. Angle argues that for a consumer robot to have staying power, "It needs to be doing a service for you." Robots like Rovio and E3 straddle the line between gimmick and utility. Only time--and some brave parents--will separate the tools from the toys.

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Roboware's E3 (left) is not as serious as it looks--the programmable robot is designed to watch and interact with children. Wowee's Rovio, meanwhile, can be controlled using nearly any browser, acting as a roving Webcam-meets-speakerphone on wheels.

Robot Maids: 'We Need Them'

It's easy to walk through the Robotics Tech Zone at CES without ever realizing it. There are card tables strewn with a handful of gaudy brochures, booths that are completely empty, a handful of extroverted toys, and what appear, at first, to be many Roombas. Some of these roving disks zoom across smaller pens, one across a stage--all idly bouncing off their surroundings and mercifully unaware of how boring they are. That's because they're basically clones of the iPod of consumer robots: the Roomba.

In fact, these competitors don't really function any differently either; Yujin Robot's Plus A robotic vacuum, for instance, boasts a list of features that are identical to the latest Roombas, including pre-set cleaning times and the ability to automatically recharge its lithium-ion battery. With 2.5 million Roombas sold, and no one currently coming close to out-innovating its flagship model, iRobot has effectively zero competition. But that's not necessarily a good thing.

"One company doesn't make an industry," the company's CEO, Angle, has said for years. That's why iRobot developed Create, an open-source, mod-friendly version of Roomba that could not only empower the niche bot-hacking community, but serve as a research platform to help start-up robotics companies get their footing. As investors warm up to the concept of consumer robots, Angle claims it's becoming easier for newcomers to get access to capital. Still, he said, creating household bots is a nightmarish business proposition.

"Unlike with software, the margins are terrible," he said, citing 56 percent drop-off from software to robotics profits. "And you're building physical stuff. You have moving parts, gears operating in nasty environments. The robots are going to break." Initially, the Roomba was built to last 150 hours before failing, to meet European product standards. But considering how often the vacuum runs, that would have meant just six months of operation.

Even military robot-makers like Boeing and Foster-Miller, who are no strangers to engineering for endurance, would be crippled by the slim profit margins involved in consumer robotics, according to Angle. And while Samsung, General Electric and similar companies might have a better shot, he maintains that gaining a foothold is "ridiculously hard. It took us 10 years to develop the competence," Angle said, some of which included a toy deal with Hasbro that didn't pan out, but helped teach the company how to deal with production and quality control issues on a massive scale.

iRobot's military work didn't hurt, either: When American troops entered Afghanistan in 2002, company reps presented them with a new information-gathering tool called Packbot. Although the Army's Airborne Rangers initially brushed off using these remote-control scouts to help clear out caves, attitudes changed once troops were actually ordered into the darkness. Angle calls this the "cave mouth epiphany"--the moment when soldiers realized the value of expendable machines. And despite selling 2.5 million Roombas, Angle believes the consumer equivalent of that epiphany has yet to happen. It will come, as the U.S. grows collectively older, and boomers become more insistent on living independently at home (as opposed to a nursing home or similar situation). And since labor is actually getting more expensive, hiring a nurse or house-cleaner may be less and less viable. Angle's conclusion: "We need robots, as a society, to maintain the types of lives we want to live." This will mean robots that allow for remote diagnosis and treatment, to keep us out of the hospital, and more robots to handle routine household tasks. "It's an inevitability that's exciting--and frightening. It means this industry is important," Angle said.

In the future, perhaps. But here in the bowls of CES, consumer robots seem anything but important. Some have potential, and some are a lot of fun. But when I ask a rep why that wheelchair with massive tank treads--it's called Tank Chair--is in the robotics area, he explains that, No, it's not actually a robot. But if you took off the chair and strapped on an autonomous navigation system, it could be a viable platform for all kinds of remote operations.

"Have you tested it with autonomous navigation?" I ask.

After a pause, and a wry, knowing smile, he might as well be speaking for the entire industry: "Not yet."

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The Roomba 560 is the latest in iRobot's dominant line of household cleaning bots.

With limited consumer demand and still developing technology, building and marketing robotics for the home is "ridiculously hard," iRobot CEO Colin Angle (bottom left) says, where his company dominates the segment. "It took us 10 years to develop the competence." Other companies such as Wowwee balance toymaking and practicality with bots such as Femisapien (right) in the race to move beyond tired Star Wars replicas (middle).